Punknews.org's picks (2016)

Staff Picks

Punknews.org is an odd duck of a publication, a loosely organized group of volunteers that somehow manage to churn out content day after day, week after week without much of an editorial edict or any firm plan. It's fitting then that our site-wide Best Of list is always such an afterthought. There are publications out there that fret over the albums they choose, but that's not us. We just add up everyone's individual picks and what's revealed is revealed. The chips fall where they fall.

This overall list is tallied up based on the individual lists written by our editors, interviewers, and staff reviewers. We've tracked the results of everyone's lists in a spreadsheet you can find
here. You are welcome to check our math. The individual lists are weighted so that a person's #1 pick is worth 20 points, #2 is 19 points, and so on down. Overall 175 full-lengths were voted on.

If we've missed your favourite album this year, let us know by
submitting some
news on the band or tossing
a review our way. We're on the hunt for new team members for 2017 so you're welcome to join us and help get the word out about the music you love.

Punknews.org's Top 20 LPs of 2016

Vapor / Warner Brothers

You asked for it, they did it: Tegan and Sara went one hundred
percent pop. But, whereas everyone expected a Madonna-inspired dance
soundtrack ala Gwen Stefaniâ€™s first solo album, instead, Tegan and Sara
looked to the gloomier side of the 80s and crafted a release more akin to
Modern English than Ms. Ciccone. Itâ€™s sad and earnest and, really, itâ€™s one
of the rare records where indie-stalwarts go mainstream and hold onto their
former values and core identity. - John Gentile

I wasn't sure how AJJ would follow up Christmas Island
however upon hearing this release, I was glad to find they did so in
spectacular fashion. This album has everything people have always loved
about
the band, but finds them building on their strengths and expanding their
sound in new directions. No, it's not the same as when Sean and Ben were
cranking these tunes out solo ... but I'm thankful for that. There's only
one
band that could make the same album multiple times, and they said adios
amigos before I was a teenager. - John Gallienne

Tankcrimes / Pirate's Press

I'll be honest I'm late on Kicker, but I am so glad that I gave
them a chance this time around. Rendered Obsolete is what punk rock
should be: mean, gritty, obnoxious (in a good way), and full of
metaphorical
middle fingers. They are a great throwback to early UK punk rock with an
updated edge. The 'in-your-face-ness' of this album is staggeringly high
and
I love it. - Ricky Frankel

Philadelphia's Nothing released a follow-up album to their 2014
debut album titled Guilty of Everything. Tired of Tomorrow encompasses very
personal lyrics of mortality, mental health, and other depressive subject
matter meshes perfectly with the melancholy, dark and shoegazey tone to the
entire album. - Samantha Barrett

A handful of my favorite 90's punk bands (see also Bouncing
Souls and NOFX) put out new records this year. This is the one that really
hit the spot for me. The return to Fat Wreck Chords seems to have breathed
new life into the Trever Keith and the boys. Protection is sometimes angry,
sometimes introspective and always catchy. It has the passion of a young
man
and the wisdom of an older man. Check out "Middling Around". - Tom
Crandle

The Coathangers are a badass all-female band and, now that
theyâ€™re down to being just a three piece, theyâ€™re churning out some very
old-school style, back-to-basics punk that could have easily graced the
stage
of CBGBs in the mid-70s. Brimming with girl power and a whimsical style--as
evidenced by one song featuring a childâ€™s squeak toy as a lead
instrument--Nosebleed Weekend is the Coathangersâ€™ strongest album to
date and just promises that the band is going to keep getting better and
better. - Julie River

Never Hungover Again was perfect. Joyce Manor do a
helluva job in its wake though with songs that are slightly longer but
similar in vein. It's tailored more towards melody and pop appeal as
opposed
to the grit of the last album, which was steeped in fast-paced punk. They
keep similar tempos here but what they do is dial things back and try to
fuse
all their albums together so they meet the garage-anger of old midway with
the more polished and produced sound of new. It's a great middle-ground to
be
honest and one that's as foot-tapping and head-bobbing as I could have
asked
for. - Renaldo Matadeen

I may have fallen off the Jimmy Eat World train sometime after
Futures, but Integrity Blues brought me right back as if I hadn't missed
anything. This record reminds me of why I loved Jimmy Eat World in the
first
place. One of my favorite of the year. - Dan Donald

Samson gets more hushed and introspective than ever on Winter
Wheat. While that left me disappointed at first, I realized it lets his
lyrics shine more than ever before. I just need more of this guyâ€™s voice in
my life and whatever way he wants to get it to me is just fine. - Greg
Simpson

This isnâ€™t just my favorite album of the year. It may be the
best one Iâ€™ve heard in the last five. I donâ€™t know why. I didnâ€™t
particularly
care for anything Will Toledo released before this. But everything about
Teens
of Denial clicked with me. He tells full stories in his songs like
Dylan but bathes in noise rock like Sonic Youth. Itâ€™s the extended intro in
â€œVincent,â€ the youthful catharsis of â€œDestroyed By Hippie Powers,â€ the
agony
of admittance in â€œCosmic Hero,â€ the wordy, confused bridge in the
eleven-minuteâ€The Ballad of Costa Concordia.â€ That list could go on
forever.
Iâ€™d call this a perfect album, something I donâ€™t remember ever thinking so
immediately before. - Dan Donald

I loved the Falcon circa 2006, but I never expected A) that
Brendan Kelly would use the name again, B) that the resulting album would
be
their best release yet, or C) that Dave Hause would show up. All of these
surprises are delightfully welcome. Gather Up the Chaps merges
Kelly's
favorite topics (drinking too much, failing too much) with some of his best
hooks. Hause and bassist Dan Andriano take the mic for a track each and
deliver some of their best material in years. Everyone's a winner and
everything is fine and we are all one. - Joe Pelone

There are academically better records than this, so I'm told,
but there's none I've had so much emotionally invested in. Through
geographic
happenstance I've had the pleasure of seeing this three-piece slowly build
a
catalogue of excellent singles, supported by blisteringly energetic local
bar
shows. A band in love with vinyl singles and limited releases, it took the
Dirty Nil longer than most to take the leap from EPs to this, their first
proper album. It's strange for me to even call it their debut, as I've had
a
few summers driving through the Niagara wine country with these songs
blaring
from my car window. Familiarity may be clouding my critical objectivity
here,
but I'm not a very good critic anyways. Nothing makes me happier than
listening to these songs with the volume up. - Adam White

It's tough picking singles to highlight off WORRY because itâ€™s
so surreal. Everything Jeff Rosenstock touches turns to gold and here's
another example why. The album's comprised of so many sonic signatures,
it's
damn hard to pin down. It's all over the place but in a good way as it
prides
itself on attributes and characteristics that can best be described as
rushes
of earnest shoutalongs, candidly told and catchily brought to life
musically.
All with a songwriting vulnerability like he's never shown before. When it
ends, you want more of Jeff's snarky take on punk. - Renaldo Matadeen

This is pop punk at its best: upbeat yet depressing and real.
Drugs and jaded tendencies register personally. Maybe a little too much?
But
itâ€™s catchy as hell. Looking at Direct Hit! from Brainless God to
Wasted
Mind shows exactly how Fat Wreck capitalizes on a ripe apple at the
right time. This is another excellent addition to both the band and labelâ€™s
catalogue. - Nick Poyner

No surprise, right? Well I really have to say that PEARS truly
out did themselves with Green Star. I was so happy for them when
they
signed to Fat Wreck Chords, but I had no idea how they were going top Go
To Prison and they absolutely did. This album is thrashy, hardcore
and
melodic in all the right places. I can't get enough. Every song is
interesting, which keeps it fresh from front to back. â€œHinge By Spine,â€
â€œGreen Star,â€ â€œCloverleaf,â€ â€œAnhedoniaâ€â€¦ GAH! The musicianship was taken to
a
new hight of maturity as were the vocals. I still very much stand behind my
5
star review and I could not be happier for this band's success. They
absolutely deserve the top spot on my list this year. Green Star is
a
phenomenal record as is every show I have seen them play. - Ricky Frankel

NOFX is a band that I've grown up and grown old with. Their 90's
records are some of my all time favorites. I love a lot of the later stuff
too, but it's far less consistent. This is solid front to back. It manages
to
be a little more mature while remaining mostly obnoxious. Check out "I
Don't
Like Me Anymore". - Tom Crandle

Domino Records

I like Renaldoâ€™s description of this album as â€œangry dream-pop,â€
because thatâ€™s what makes Paradise such a unique album. It rages on
powerfully with a punk rock pace, but the keyboards add in this bizarre
sense
of jagged beauty to the album. Mish Barber-Way is one of the best punk
frontwomen out there right now, and her lyrics and her voice simply wreck
me
as they tear through this furious yet dreamy album. - Julie River

Milo comes back from the workplace and the original pop-punkers
demonstrate why they are as heralded as they are. You can make the argument
that later day Descendents records are uneven, which is why Hypercaffium
Spazzinate is so effective. The band takes the best points from their
career and stitches them into a single, wild, but thoughtful, record.
Despite
their earlier declaration, the Descendents DID grow up, but, as it turns
out,
we head nothing to worry about. The Descendents are still the Descendents,
be
it â€™82 or â€™16. - John Gentile

2016 suffered an unbelievable number of losses in the music
world, but the one that hit me the hardest was David Bowie. That has little
to do with this number one ranking. His final album was one of the most
challenging, boundary-pushing and unique album of his career, a career full
of twists and turns, reinvention after reinvention. A dark rock record with
jazz and hip hop elements, Bowie leaves us with one final bit of proof of
his
genius. - Greg Simpson

Total Treble

Way slower and sadder and Replacements-attuned than Transgender
Dysphoria Blues, Shape Shift With Me is this jumbled, ugly mess
of
a breakup record that dares you to love it. And after many, many car rides
spent shouting along to the likes of "Crash" and "All This (And More)," I
suppose I do. - Joe Pelone

The breakneck segue from the album opening "If This
Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will" to lead single "DVP" is perhaps my favourite
single moment of any album this year. It tops a list of seemingly endless
small charms that PUP heaps onto their second full length, which
singlehandedly makes the case that modern punk rock can retain its youth
and
vitality without falling in line with the trends du jour. With huge
shout-along choruses and WOAH's abound, PUP's repurposing the hooks and
flourishes of the mid-90s pop-punk. Those are the bands of my youth but
they're sounds I'd long tired of. PUP somehow plays those familiar cards
without sounding stale. - Adam White